STAY CLOSE by Harlan Coben

This is an exciting whodunnit by a master of the genre. Harlan Coben has over twenty mysteries to his credit and the last four or five made it to the top of the NY TIMES best-seller list. Our detective Broome is on a case that dates back seventeen years. Each year a man disappears; nobody hears from him again and no bodies are found. As Broome works through the evidence, he begins to suspect the same person has something to do with all the disappearances. His partner is also his ex-wife for whom he still has romantic feelings, though she is now happily married and has children. Mixed up in the fast-paced book are dancers from a seedy Gentleman's Club, Mardi Gras, a man in prison who may be there unjustly, and from the same club a barmaid who is dying with cancer. No spoilers here, but if you want to read a good book with plenty of twists and turns to keep you turning the pages, this is it. I'm ashamed to say this is the first I'd heard of Coben. I'll be attacking his list vigorously now that I've found him. I give this STAY CLOSE four bright stars.

Love it or Hate it

THE COLDEST NIGHT by Robert Olmstead is like no other book I've ever read. There is no other about which I can say, "This reminds me...."
I love the style of writing. I hate the subject matter yet I couldn't stop reading.
I did stop twice but just long enough to let the tears subside so I could get back to the matter at hand.
Most of the book is about the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, the decisive battle of the Korean War. Never have I read such a vivid battle scene; I don't know if I could survive another. It bolstered my hate of war and what it does to the young people who give their all for the good of the machine. It highlights the friendships bonded in war.
Before Henry went to Korea, he had a passionate love affair with a girl, Mercy, from the good side of the tracks. Her family disapproved and sent Henry running for his life. He left his mother, whom he loved dearly. He knew nothing of his father. He was seventeen years old. Way too young to face the horrors of war.
He came home a year later scarred in body and spirit and unable to settle down. I kept wanting him to see Mercy again.
I'll give nothing away.
This book will wring you dry.

COMFORT by Ann Hood

Anyone who has read Ann Hood's works knows she's excellent at her trade.
COMFORT is not her usual offering, but it's a must read, especially for anyone who has lost a child.
Grief following the death of a child is said to be the ultimate grief and Hood testifies to that in this precious book.
In 2002, her five-year-old daughter contracted a virulent strain of strep and within 48 hours, little Grace died. For a long time Hood couldn't write and understandably so.
At someone's suggestion she started knitting and joined a knitting group. The mindlessness involved when knitting seemed to comfort her.
Her first work after the horror was a novel THE KNITTING CIRCLE in which a group of women come together to knit and they each reveal their grief. (Next on my to-read list.)
It was followed by this memoir, subtitled A Journey Through Grief.
Even if it weren't well written (which it is), I'd still have to give it five stars if only for the courage it took to write. By writing COMFORT, Hood had to pick at the places that were healing, make them raw again, and allow us to watch her bleed.
When her son expressed the need of wanting the family to be happy again, the family made a huge decision which you'll find in this story.
Nobody will forget Grace, least of all her mother, but, hopefully the awful pain has eased.

A Letter to My Granddaughter

Dear Hannah,
Yesterday I received your request to be my friend on Facebook. I nearly choked as I realized you are thirteen years old now and that alone makes you eligible to become part of the social media. You may be ready for this but I'm not sure I am.
I don't know that I'm ready for you to be exposed to the ugly side of humanity. Sure, you watch television, but most of what you see is fiction and you know that and haven't allowed it to taint your world.
At first I was surprised your parents would allow it. They've been so diligent in setting time limits on the computer and blocking your access to sites you don't need to see. After speaking with your mother, I understand she's had "the talk" with you and that helps some. I imagine she knows she might as well allow this so you don't have to sneak and do it and then feel guilty about it.
So many good memories are whirling in my mind of the times you and I spent doing things together. Things that to anyone else would seem useless, but to us, at the time, were fun.
Remember long afternoons in TN, when you were 3-4 years old, peeling the bark on the birch trees, trying to see which one of us could pull the longest strip before it broke?
Remember playing cards and laughing so hard the parental units yelled at us from an adjoining bedroom and told us to get quiet and go to sleep?
Remember being next to me in bed and helping me with the crossword puzzles? I was amazed at your knowledge.
Remember spooning at night with your little body giving warmth to my old aching bones?
I cherish every minute I've had with you. And now you want to be my friend on Facebook.
I'm so afraid; afraid that you'll see who I really am and may not like what you see. But I'll take my chances and hope that love wins.

Defending a Book

I'm not the only one who uses a blog to review books. I enjoy seeking others who do the same. While I respect each reader's opinions, why do I find myself feeling compelled to respond to someone who rips a book I love? I know we can't all like the same things; if we did, it would be a dull existence and a lot of writers would be out of business.
But how someone could profess to loving THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett and then rip THE HEALING by Jonathan Odell is beyond me.

I like a book that teaches as well as entertains. Stockett did no research other than talking to her sister's maid, and even with all she gleaned from the maid, she didn't bother to give her one sentence of acknowledgement. She made an historical mistake in the book and she made up things that simply would not have happened. Needless to say, the black community didn't take to THE HELP too well.

As he wrote THE HEALING, Odell did hours of research and made sure the people he interviewed were given their deserved credits. This fact alone makes me give more credence to his work.

I read this review: http://www.anitabook.com/the-healing-written-by-jonathan-odell/#comment-32 and was dumbfounded. The reasons the reviewer gives for her poor rating for THE HEALING would make sense if what she says is true about the book. But my view from the rocking chair is nothing like what she sees. I hope nobody by-passes this book because of her review.

Two jewels for the price of one!

I love it when I beat my friends in finding a new jewel. This time I found two stuck together.
The first is the book GIRLCHILD and the bonus is the author of that book, Tupelo Hassman.
How could you not love someone named Tupelo?

GIRLCHILD is about a third-generation resident of a trailer park. All of the things you've heard, in jokes and on the street, regarding the lowlife in trailer parks, come into play in this wonderful little book.

Rory Dawn Hendrix is a smart little girl who uses a tattered old copy of the Girl Scout's HANDBOOK as her guide to life. She's formed her own troop with a membership of one.

Social Services labels her mother as "feeble-minded" and RD feels as though she's responsible for her mother's happiness and well-being. It's a big burden for a child. She purposefully lost out in a spelling bee so she wouldn't have to travel to the next level and leave her mother behind.

GIRLCHILD is full with such touching antidotes. It's style is rarely seen ... unnumbered chapters, each three pages or less. You may think this would make it easier to read on the run as the breaks come more often. You would be so wrong because once you start, there is no stopping.

Join in as RD journeys toward leaving the trailer park behind.

Read this excerpt: http://www.berfrois.com/2012/03/girlchild-excerpt-tupelo-hassman/,

and this awesome review from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2012/02/09/146581514/scrappy-girlchild-forms-a-girl-scout-troop-of-one

I can hardly wait until the next book by this author.

4 stars for The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian

If you like a good ghost story, this book should satisfy you.
A young airplane pilot has to bring his commuter plane down in water. He performs a perfect execution, but a wave catches the plane and flips it. Several lives are lost.
As the pilot heals from his own injuries, he starts seeing the ghosts of some of those who died. He's unable to work and feels trapped in his town and by his nightmares.
His wife finds a big old house away from anyone they know and the couple move there with their twin daughters.
In this new community almost everyone has a greenhouse. The women all go by names of herbs and spices. They seem to be obsessed with the twins. Unfortunately, the move didn't get rid of the haints; they followed the family to the new address.
You'll be engrossed as you learn the connections among the twins, the herbs, and the residents of this community and all the way through to its chilling ending.